This is a very interesting book describing how people have made use of solar energy since even before the time of the Ancient Greeks and Romans right up to the 21 century. It describes a number of technologies. The important ones are:
There is also interesting coverage of how technologies fell out of favour only to be revived, depending on the political situation and on what fossil fuels were discovered.
I recommend to anybody planning to have a house built to become familiar with solar building design, ideally before buying a block of land. "Let it Shine" will give you a pretty good overview. Just be aware that the book is written for the northern hemisphere so north and south need to be mirror-reversed for Australia which is in the southern hemisphere.